I realized I never posted one of my favorite nutrition-related Slate articles. This one’s on another fakey fake food additive: phony fiber.
You guys know I hate foods that make health claims, but this fake fiber stuff is one of the worst offenders:
…Nobody knows if these fiber additives possess the same health benefits as natural fiber found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Fiber, which consists of nondigestible carbohydrates, was already one of the least understood nutrients even before the introduction of ingredients like polydextrose. Nutritionists and scientists have wrestled for years with how to define fiber and measure its health impact.
One of the many challenges that The Art of Power’s Wesley faces is the lack of fresh produce available in his urban neighborhood. Like millions of Americans, Wesley lives in a food desert: a vast, densely populated community with few stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables.
Watch the above video from TIME about one Chicago grocer that’s trying to turn a food desert into a food oasis.
National restaurant chain Chipotle has launched a campaign to help children across the nation get healthy school lunches. Chipotle is asking the public to forward their junk e-mails to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com — for each e-mail sent, a donation will be made to the nonprofit organization The Lunch Box.
The mission of the organization is to ensure that “all children…have access to healthy food to grow their bodies, minds and future.” To accomplish this, the nonprofit works with schools to teach them how to provide nutritious meals with locally grown food.
Chipotle’s goal is to reach 500,000 e-mails sent — and they will donate $50,000 to The Lunch Box. So far, over 90,000 e-mails have been sent, which translates to over $9,000 for school lunches.
Not that this will come as a shock to anyone, but a new study showed that 53% of food products targeted to babies and toddlers in Canadian stores contain are 20% sugar. You know the same (or worse) is true of baby food in the U.S. Says one Canadian professor Charlene Elliot:
There is a presumed halo effect around baby and toddler foods because people expect these foods to be held to a higher standard…Yet this is not necessarily the case.
Continued Elliot:
This draws attention to the, perhaps obvious, need to carefully examine the ingredient list. While some products derive their sugar content from naturally occurring fruit sugars, many products also contain added sugars. It remains fair to ask why it is necessary to add sugar to these baby or toddler products in the first place.
I was especially interested in this last point:
Elliott also observes that much of the packaging, labeling and framing of such foods play to adult conceptions and classifications of treats and of what it means to eat a meal. “The study contained baby food desserts and ‘premium organic cookies’ for toddlers — products that would be target adult tastes, as there is no nutritional reason that babies should complete their meals with Banana Coconut Cream Dessert puree or cookies, organic or otherwise. Equally significant is the way such products steer our youngest consumers down the wrong path in terms of reinforcing tastes for sweet foods.
AHA! So that’s where we get it from. Parents: Don’t train your kids to expect sweets after every meal!
This is a follow-up to my earlier post about foods that can contribute to acne. There’s no reason to fear those foods (or your body!), but this is another way that what you put in and around your body can affect how you look and feel in very real ways.
From the abstract of the article:
The astonishing difference in acne incidence rates between nonwesternized and fully modernized societies cannot be solely attributed to genetic differences among populations but likely results from differing environmental factors. Identification of these factors may be useful in the treatment of acne in Western populations.
I love food. I love food that tastes good, is satisfying, energizes, and delivers lots of nutrition. There's lots of food like that out there. Let me prove it to you. Email questions, comments, or suggestions to yournutritionista@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: I'm not a Registered Dietitian (RD) or mental health professional. For medical or psychological counseling, please consult an RD, certified nutritionist, doctor, or mental health professional. All content on this blog is based on my own acquired knowledge/research and personal experience. It is not meant to qualify as medical advice.
